Pages

Monday, August 4, 2014

Companion animal welfare - what are the problems?

Ever wondered what happens to your papers when you send them off for peer review? This is Obi assessing some literature.

Happy Monday. As I learned
from a very educational “Lynx” (alas, I mean the deodorant, not the cat) commercial last
night, the average person lives through 4000 Mondays. Doesn’t seem like much
when you put it that way.

If you’ve not enrolled in
the Coursera Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC, you’re missing out. This week’s topic was a
discussion of the welfare of cats and dogs: owned, strays, in shelters and even
farmed for meat (often illegally). [They also discussed the welfare of companion horses and rabbits - the course is free so I recommend signing up, it takes 1-2 hours a week and is a real eye opener].

Why even bother looking at
the welfare of pets? Don’t they have it great?

Well, as the instructors
pointed out, there are plenty of issues we need to address. Keeping animals as
pets can be associated with lack of stimulation (for the animal), behavioural
problems (separation anxiety, aggression, destructive behaviour – all of which
may be an animal’s way of coping with the challenges of captivity), overfeeding
(especially a problem when combined with lack of exercise – which is due to
owner time constraints, priorities and their own energy levels) and general
lack of choice.

Cats can suffer from
stress related diseases such as urinary tract diseases (these can be
life-threatening, for example when the urinary tract becomes obstructed and the
cat cannot urinate).

In one study they cited,
35 per cent of owners relinquished dogs to shelters because they didn’t have
enough time to spend with them/look after them, and another 35 per cent of dogs
were relinquished for behavioural reasons (examples cited included biting,
aggression, disobedience, escaping, destructiveness, issues between new pets
and old pets, house soiling and vocalisation).

It’s been said before but
continues to be true: unwanted behaviours are behind more euthanasias than
cancer, infectious diseases and metabolic diseases like diabetes put together.
Really, it says more about us than them.

IN OTHER NEWS...

One of the nastiest
parasitic diseases one can contract (though there is arguably some formidable
competition out there) is hydatid disease. Tasmania was meant to be free of the
hydatid tapeworm but unfortunately veterinary parasitologist David Jenkins has detected
it in some dogs and livestock the Apple Isle. Read here - this info underscores the need to a) worm your dog b) prevent your pets from eating offal and c) avoid hydatid tapeworms at all costs.

The Morris Animal
Foundation is hosting a webinar for pet owners on lymphoma on August 20. For
more info check out their website hereor register here.

Veterinary Ethics: Navigating Tough Cases

WARNING

All images and content on this site are copyright Anne Fawcett unless stated otherwise and should not be reproduced without written permission. Please be aware that some surgical and clinical images are used on this site.